


The Great Library Series Timeline

by RosalindInPants, TheGreatLibraryFangirl (Mazeem)



Series: Meta Archives [1]
Category: The Great Library Series - Rachel Caine
Genre: Gen, Meta, series timeline
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-07
Updated: 2020-06-13
Packaged: 2020-08-10 23:03:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,783
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20143462
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RosalindInPants/pseuds/RosalindInPants, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mazeem/pseuds/TheGreatLibraryFangirl
Summary: Now covering the full series, with detailed Smoke and Iron timeline by Mazeem! If you see anything that looks off or have anything to add, please comment. As we all know, the timline isn't exactly easy to work out with this series!





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Revised Smoke and Iron timeline is thanks to Mazeem, who caught a clue I missed and worked out some more exact times. Thank you!

I am beginning with events that impact our main characters. I am not going to attempt to add historical events referenced by the ephemera. All months and seasons are purely based on an attempt to reconcile weather descriptions in the books with described time frames. The books have never, to my knowledge, specifically mentioned a month in which events occurred, and seasons are only rarely mentioned.

1992: Eskander locks himself away. Wolfe is born same year or year after, depending on how far along Keria's pregnancy was when this happened. (_Smoke and Iron_, Annis says Eskander has been locked up for 40 years, Eskander says he locked himself up because he used too much power in an escape attempt “before the child was born.”)

2010: ["Stormcrow"](https://www.wattpad.com/243732942-stormcrow) happens, if you're treating it as canon. Wolfe is 18.

2024: Jess’s brother Liam dies. (Ink and Bone says Jess was 9 when this happened, Liam 17)

2025: 10 year old Jess encounters the ink-licker

2026: Wolfe and the old Archivist were still on good enough terms for Wolfe to have the opportunity to hear the Archivist’s desk password. That’s about 3 years before Rome. That means that either something went wrong between Wolfe and the Archivist in those 3 years, or it was an unexpected betrayal when the Archivist sent him to Rome. Wolfe having spied on the Archivist’s password suggests that he didn’t fully trust him, even then. Some suspicions, maybe?

Summer 2029: Wolfe invents printing press and is arrested. (_Paper and Fire_, Wolfe states this happened 3 years ago)

Summer 2030: Wolfe released from prison. (_Ink and Bone_, Santi says Wolfe was in prison for a year)

August 2031(could be anywhere from May-September, considering weather): Jess takes Library entrance test. Weather is warm and sunny.

  * Next day train leaves for Alexandria.
  * Gets to Spain 1 day later.
  * Remaining duration of train ride unspecified: another day or two?
  * First lesson morning after arriving in Alexandria.
  * After one week of classes, Dario steals Jess’s clothes, Khalila asks about Iron Tower.
  * Next day, Dario loses Codex.

September 2031 (Morgan says she left Oxford a month ago, so if class started in August, she would be arriving in September)

  * Unspecified time later, Jess gets letter from parents, steals book.
  * Next day, some students start getting extra classes, Jess uses translation tags.
  * Next day, still no extra classes for Jess, postulants bicker and play chess.
  * Next day, Morgan arrives, confiscation training, restraint test.
  * Next day, whole class lottery, students who didn’t draw tiles dismissed.
  * 3 days later, Thomas first mentions press, class disarms Burner traps.

December 2031 (Jess observes fall weather in France and freezing rain in England, and we need to make the start of _Paper and Fire_ close to one year after the start of _Ink and Bone_, so let's call this very late fall, right before the season changes to winter): 

  * Some time later? Unspecified. Jess catches Morgan doing Obscurist things, tells her about his family.
  * Next morning, class sent to Oxford.
  * In Oxford for one day? Winter weather (freezing rain) in Oxford.
  * Jess spends one day unconscious after being stabbed.
  * Two more days in Welsh camp.
  * Next day they drive to London, get on train.
  * Train crashes that night.
  * Next morning, Thomas shows them chess automaton (that got there fast - translation?)
  * Six days in France. Morgan arrested on sixth night.

January 2032:

  * Travel back to Alexandria takes a week or two (according to Google maps, could be longer).
  * That night, Thomas arrested.
  * Next morning class graduates.

Total time for _Ink and Bone_: around 1 week to get to Alexandria, approximately two weeks actually accounted for in Alexandria, 1 day in Oxford, around two-three weeks to get back to Alexandria. Unspecified time gap makes things difficult. Probably reasonable to assume it’s a full semester. Based on weather descriptions in England (edited to add: and France) and time spans given, I’m going to say the main events of the book take place from summer/early fall of 2031 to winter of 2031/2032.

July 2032: _Paper and Fire_ begins 6 months after Ink and Bone. Jess has just spent weeks looking for a book with proof that Thomas is alive. In terms of weather, scorching heat is mentioned, so possibly summer. Let’s be generous with time estimates and say Ink and Bone ended early January this is mid-July. Not quite 7 months, but a bit more than exactly 6.

  * Next day, training exercise and confrontation with Wolfe and Santi.
  * Next day, Jess visits Dario and Khalila at Lighthouse, plots with Glain.

August 2032: To make this work with _Ash and Quill_, let’s say late enough in August that it will be September by the time they get to Philadelphia.

  * Unspecified number of days pass. Research and scheming happen, Dario and Jess go to tomb of Alexander the Great, fights sphinx.
  * Middle of next night, Jess and Glain summoned to High Commander, Jess goes to find Brendan.
  * 3 days later, Dario asks Scholar Prakesh to help.
  * Next day, Scholar Prakesh is killed. Jess goes first looking for Brendan, then to Wolfe, mesmer gets Wolfe’s memories back, Morgan escapes and meets Jess.
  * Next morning, Jess and Glain assigned to Santi’s company, sent to Rome, fight Burners, meet Dario and Khalila.
  * That night, kids and Santi meet in atrium, Jess scouts tunnels.
  * Next morning, they rescue Thomas, Dario captured, rest translate to the Iron Tower
  * Next day, they find the Black Archives, Artifex shows up with Dario, Black Archives burned, Obscurist Magnus killed after translating the group to London, group meets Brightwell family, go to Serapeum, double crossing and backstabbing occur, group is sent to Philadelphia.

Total time for_ Paper and Fire_: One month. We are interpreting that unspecified time gap **VERY **generously to make this work with the timeline. At least this makes Dario’s impatience a bit more logical. There is no other way for this to work with the next book starting in the fall and no time in between. I really, really wish that 6 months wasn’t so clearly and repeatedly stated.

September 2032: Group translates into Philadelphia, put in prison. Season is specifically named as fall in Chapter 2.

  * Next day, Thomas and Jess meet with Beck, bombardment happens, Santi severely burned, Jess and Thomas visit workshop.
  * Next day, Santi moved to doctor’s house, Jess and Dario go shopping and scouting.
  * Unspecified time gap working on press. Chapter 3 ends with shopping, 4 picks up with press 1/3 done. Doesn’t seem to be very long, possibly same day. Students scheme, visit Wolfe and Santi at the doctor’s house and scheme more.
  * Next day, Jess and Thomas work on press, Morgan and Glain figure out how to make a Codex.
  * Next day, Glain shows Jess evidence Burners attacked jail, more work on press, Wolfe and Santi visit workshop.
  * Late that night/early next morning, Morgan makes Codex, Jess contacts Brendan, plans are made, Jess and Thomas demonstrate press, violence happens, group escapes with doctor and a few refugees, Library destroys Philadelphia.
  * Unspecified time gap while Jess is unconscious. Jess wakes up, talks to lots of people, plans are made, Jess visits Morgan, gets drugged by doctor.
  * Jess wakes up halfway through next day, party splits from doctor and refugees, encounters Khalila’s cousin, attacked by automaton lions, reprogram lions, board Anit’s ship.
  * Unspecified time gap on ship. (8-15 days if we’re being historically accurate for a steamship, thanks Mazeem)

October 2032:

  * Arrive at the Brightwell castle, awkward family interactions occur, Dario tells Jess about Feast of Greater Burning in 30 days, awkward dinner, Brendan tips Jess off about father’s scheming. Jess sees Morgan’s messed up power. Season is late fall, almost winter.
  * Next day, suspicious Glain is suspicious, Jess and Thomas work on press, Wolfe joins them, Jess almost robs his mother.
  * Time gap. 21 days until the Feast of Greater Burning. Ray of Apollo is done, press is done. Ray of Apollo took 3 days, not clear where in the time gap they started on it. Press will be shown to Callum next day. That night, Jess, Brendan, Anit scheme, Jess tells Morgan.
  * Two days later, press is demonstrated, strategic betrayal occurs: Jess, Morgan, Wolfe translated to Alexandria, everyone else put on a ship.

Total time for _Ash and Quill_: Around 1 week in Philadelphia. A couple days in the High Garda camp and traveling. Two weeks approximately on ship. 11 days at Castle Raby in England. Total time: 1 month? Maybe another week or two, at most. Time until Feast of Greater Burning: 19 days.

October 2032:

**Jess**: Chapter 1 begins with Jess in jail 5 days after arriving in Alexandria. It is the anniversary of Liam’s death. Jess “was now older than Liam had ever lived to be”. If Jess turned 17 near the beginning of Ink and Bone, he’s 18 here, and this line works well. If he’s still 17, he’s talking about being older by as little as a few hours. Weather was rainy in England when Liam dies, warm and sunny in Alexandria.

  * 15 days until Feast of Greater Burning. Jess negotiates with Archivist, moved to monitored apartment.
  * 14 days until Feast of Greater Burning. Next day, Spanish ambassador visits Jess, Jess gets message from Morgan in Blank.
  * 3-12 days until Feast of Greater Burning. Chapter 12 picks up after “a few long days”. Jess’s apartment is searched, Jess is taken to Archivist for questioning, hypnotized by Elsinore Quest on the way to think he really is Brendan, gets sent to raid smuggler’s house. Goes home, takes a 2-hour nap, wakes up and remembers he’s Jess.
  * 2-11 days until Feast of Greater Burning. Early the next morning, Jess goes to the Colosseum, sees automaton workshop, including dragon being built, saves Archivist from assassination attempt.
  * 1 day until Feast of Greater Burning. Probably not long after the High Garda raid and the Colosseum since he's concerned with explaining himself to Red Ibrahim. Must be same day as Chapter 21. Chapter 25 begins with Jess sending messages to smugglers. He discovers Burners have press, tells Spanish messenger he thinks executions will be moved up, raids Burner house with High Garda and finds press, sees dragon, taken to Archivist to meet up with Brendan and Wolfe, rescued by Santi’s soldiers, party reunites, Jess runs off with Brendan, goes to Red Ibrahim, Anit kills Red Ibrahim.
  * 0-1 days until Feast of Greater Burning (depending on exact time at night this happens). Chapter 34 begins right after Chapter 28. Anit brings Jess and Brendan to smugglers, plans to attack Feast of Greater Burning.

**Khalila**: Chapter 3 begins with Khalila, Glain, Thomas, Dario, and Santi on the ship heading for Alexandria. Bit of googling says the trip from England to Alexandria would be 1-2 weeks depending on speed, weather. They’re probably about halfway there when the chapter begins since they’re near Spain. Very cold weather. Khalila mentions “we’ve already been delayed”. Let’s say we’re starting 1 week after _Ash and Quill_ here.

  * 12 days until Feast of Greater Burning. Khalila gets details of plan from Dario, plots with Santi.
  * 11-12 days until Feast of Greater Burning (not specified whether it's the same day, but can't be long). Khalila talks to Anit. That night, sailors try and fail to kill Glain.
  * 10-11 days until Feast of Greater Burning, Khalila wakes up, finds everyone in Santi’s room. They’re off the coast of Portugal near the Strait of Gibraltar, less than a day before they’re past Cadiz. Thomas, Glain and Khalila make weapons, group takes Anit hostage and seizes ship.
  * 9 days until Feast of Greater Burning. Chapter 16 begins with Khalila in Cadiz writing letters to dead sailors’ families. Dario complains about how long they’ve been waiting, could be hours or days since he says it takes the king hours to get there from Madrid. King comes to take them to Madrid, they detour to Cadiz Serapeum. Rainy weather, warmer than it was on the ship but still cold. Khalila gets into the Serapeum, negotiates with Scholar Murasaki.
  * 1 day until Feast of Greater Burning. Chapter 29 picks up shortly after Jess and Brendan run off in Chapter 28, still same day as 21 and 25. Khalila, Dario, and Glain go to the Lighthouse with letters from Wolfe to recruit Scholars. Dario is captured.

Note that it isn't specified exactly where chapter 16 fits in. It seems like it's happening right after landing in Cadiz, which should be 9 days, but no exact time is given. This gives us a gap of about a week with Khalila et al hiding in Alexandria. A less likely but possible option is that chapter 16 starts later, as little as 2-3 days until Feast of Greater Burning, meaning the group either took longer to get the ship to Cadiz than anticipated or they ended up taking longer in Cadiz waiting for the king to show up.

**Wolfe**: Chapter 7 begins the day Wolfe is put back in jail. He’s pretty much out of his mind at first, so we may be able to play with the timeline (was he messed up enough to miss that he was there longer than a day before pulling himself together? Says he “had gone a little mad”, but it’s his POV, and he’d downplay it). We also know from Sword and Pen that Wolfe was unhealthy enough to be talking out loud to Santi while in prison, so his timeline is especially unreliable.

  * 18 days until Feast of Greater Burning, Wolfe's second day in prison, Wolfe discovers Khalila’s brother is in the cell next to his, starts mapping prison, encounters Troll, who Zara has sent as a spy.
  * 6-17 days until Feast of Greater Burning. Unknown time gap. Wolfe wakes up at night to find the Artifex outside his cell. Artifex threatens to torture Santi if Wolfe doesn’t kill himself in 3 days. Is Artifex expecting Anit’s ship in 3 days? Or is he timing this around the dragon completion schedule? (Thanks for that idea, Maz). Also possible Artifex had no schedule in mind and just wanted to fuck with Wolfe, so this could happen just about anywhere.
  * 2 days until Feast of Greater Burning. Unspecified time gap. In chapter 20, Wolfe has his fellow prisoners organized, but mental health is getting worse. Mysterious Qualls appearance happens.
  * 1 day until Feast of Greater Burning. Khalila’s father about to be taken for questioning, Wolfe volunteers to go instead, plans to “lie” that Brendan is Jess. 
  * 1 day until Feast of Greater Burning. Chapter 31 picks up right after Khalila, Glain, and Dario leave. Wolfe, Santi and Zara talk tactics, Wolfe and Santi talk about prison and make suicide pact, Khalila and Glain come back without Dario.

**Morgan**: Chapter 9 picks up right after Morgan gets to Alexandria. She is taken to the Iron Tower. In her first 4 days there, she tries and fails to escape her room, sends a message to Jess (does he receive this first one? Probably not?).

  * 15 days until Feast of Greater Burning. After 5 days, she meets with Gregory, is drugged.
  * 14 days until Feast of Greater Burning. Morgan wakes up, meets Annis, messes with wards to turn off listening scripts, goes to work copying scripts and sneaks message to Jess, Gregory kills an Obscurist to threaten her.
  * 1-3 days until Feast of Greater Burning. Chapter 22 picks up "weeks" after Chapter 11. Morgan figures out she’s being drugged, Annis uses mesmer skills to get cooks to stop drugging Morgan. They get crystals, Morgan links the crystals, needs to kill part of the garden for power.
  * 1-3 days until Feast of Greater Burning, Morgan and Annis go to air-circulation hub, throw crystal to Eskander, talk him into meeting them. He gets their collars off.
  * 1-3 days until Feast of Greater Burning. Probably not long, might be same day as Chapter 24. Chapter 32 begins with Morgan and Annis looking for information. Morgan uses Scribes to find what Eskander needs, Eskander fixes Morgan’s power problems.
  * 0 days until Feast of Greater Burning. Gregory drugs Morgan to bring her to Feast of Greater Burning.

Note that Morgan's timeline is a bit awkward with "weeks" between chapters 11 and 22. We can say just barely two weeks if everything in chapters 22-24 and 32 happens in the same day. It's possible that Morgan's perception of time is inaccurate due to trauma/drugs. In particular, she's in solitary confinement for those first four days, which is known to mess with people's heads, so she might have perceived that time in her room as longer than it really was. Those "weeks" while she was drugged might also have been less time.

November 2032 (has to go into November here somewhere, no idea exactly where): 

**Feast of Greater Burning**: All happens in one day. Thomas makes Rays of Apollo, Thomas, Glain, Khalila and Wolfe kill dragon, everyone runs into the trap in the Colosseum, Morgan and Dario thrown in after them, Obscurists show up with Eskander, Morgan kills Gregory, Zara kills Brendan, Archivist and Curia run away, elections planned.

Total time for _Smoke and Iron_: 19 days, according to the timeline given in _Ash and Quill_. Jess’s chapters have about a week actually accounted for, plus some unspecified gaps. Khalila’s only got a couple days accounted for, lots of gaps. Wolfe’s the same. Morgan's time is all accounted for, but that gap of _weeks_ doesn't quite match up with the available time,which makes things a bit difficult. Chronological order would be Wolfe’s first two chapters, then Morgan’s, then Jess, then the first two sets of Khalila chapters, with an unspecified gap between them, probably a couple weeks of time gap, then everything else happens over the course of a couple days leading up to the Feast of Greater Burning.

November, 2032

Sword and Pen begins right after the battle in the Colosseum at the end of Smoke and Iron. On the day of the battle, Jess's friends take him to rest in an unnamed Scholar's house, where Thomas helps him clean up and Dario and Wolfe wait with him. Morgan goes to the Iron Tower to help the Obscurists. Khalila goes to help the Scholars elect a new Archivist. Santi and Glain go to organize defenses. Thomas, after helping Jess clean up, goes to work on Rays of Apollo and automata.

The next two days are fairly complicated. All times guesstimated based on sunrise/sunset times and the stated time of noon when Poseidon rises:

**Time**

| 

**Jess**

| 

**Morgan**

| 

**Khalila**

| 

**Dario**

| 

**Thomas**

| 

**Glain**

| 

**Wolfe**

| 

**Santi**  
  
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---  
  
Day 1

| 

.

| 

.

| 

.

| 

.

| 

.

| 

.

| 

.

| 

.  
  
5:00

| 

Wakes up after nightmare, goes downstairs to listen to Scholars scheming.

| 

Iron Tower

| 

Working with Scholars on Archivist election.

| 

In same house as Jess, meets Jess and Wolfe downstairs for the scheming.

| 

Doing engineering things somewhere.

| 

At Serapeum doing High Garda stuff.

| 

With Jess, takes him downstairs to plan search of Archivist's office.

| 

At Serapeum doing High Garda stuff.  
  
6:00

| 

Scheming, departure for Archivist's office at around 6:15.

| 

Iron Tower

| 

With Scholars.

| 

Scheming, departure for Archivist's office at around 6:15.

| 

?

| 

High Garda stuff.

| 

Scheming, departure for Archivist's office at around 6:15.

| 

High Garda stuff.  
  
7:00

| 

Search Archivist's office, get poisoned.

| 

Iron Tower

| 

With Scholars.

| 

Search Archivist's office.

| 

?

| 

High Garda stuff.

| 

Search Archivist's office.

| 

High Garda stuff.  
  
8:00

| 

Meet Santi outside, sent to Medica.

| 

Iron Tower

| 

With Scholars.

| 

Meet Santi outside. Leave to deal with ambassadors.

| 

?

| 

Meet Jess's group, sent with Jess to Medica.

| 

Meet Santi outside to hand over harbor plans. Depart to continue search for Archivist?

| 

Meet Jess's group, remain at Serapeum doing Commander things.  
  
9:00

| 

At Medica getting treatment and breathing mask.

| 

Iron Tower

| 

With Scholars.

| 

?

| 

?

| 

At Medica babysitting Jess.

| 

?

| 

High Garda stuff.  
  
10:00

| 

At High Garda compound getting equipment.

| 

Sometime after this, gets harbor plans and starts working on them with Thomas. Poison must be cleaned off first.

| 

In the throne room for ceremonies with Murasaki. Family is there too. Oaths taken.

| 

?

| 

Sometime after this, gets harbor plans and starts working on them with Morgan.

| 

At High Garda compound, still babysitting Jess.

| 

?

| 

In the throne room for promotion to Lord Commander and threatening ambassadors.  
  
11:00

| 

Goes to the bar at the docks to look for Anit.

| 

With Thomas.

| 

After negotiations stall, takes ambassadors to conference room and arranges lunch.

| 

Shows up late for the ceremonies. No oaths. Brings ambassadors.

| 

With Morgan.

| 

Goes to the bar at the docks, still babysitting Jess.

| 

?

| 

High Garda stuff.  
  
12:00

| 

Goes to the Temple of Anubis to meet with Anit.

| 

With Thomas.

| 

?

| 

?

| 

With Morgan.

| 

Goes to the Temple of Anubis, still babysitting Jess.

| 

?

| 

High Garda stuff.  
  
13:00

| 

Goes to Anit's house, fights assassins. Tries to help Glain but has breathing problems.

| 

With Thomas.

| 

?

| 

?

| 

With Morgan.

| 

Goes to Anit's house, still babysitting Jess. Shot by assassins. Treated by doctor.

| 

?

| 

High Garda stuff.  
  
14:00

| 

Goes to garden with Anit. Anit offers food and comfort.

| 

With Thomas.

| 

?

| 

?

| 

With Morgan.

| 

Being treated for gunshot wounds.

| 

?

| 

High Garda stuff.  
  
15:00

| 

Trying to rest in the garden.

| 

With Thomas.

| 

?

| 

?

| 

With Morgan.

| 

Healing.

| 

?  
  
16:00

| 

Talks with Wolfe, told to rest and wait for dusk.

| 

With Thomas.

| 

?

| 

?

| 

With Morgan.

| 

Healing.

| 

Arrives at Anit's. Talks with Jess, tries to talk him into resting.

| 

High Garda stuff.  
  
17:00

| 

Rests. Or tries, at least.

| 

With Thomas.

| 

?

| 

?

| 

With Morgan.

| 

Healing.

| 

Goes to see Glain, probably? Also finds time to talk with Anit and coordinate ex-Archivist search efforts somewhere in here.

| 

High Garda stuff.  
  
18:00

| 

Resting.

| 

With Thomas.

| 

?

| 

?

| 

With Morgan.

| 

Healing.

| 

With Glain or Anit?

| 

High Garda stuff.  
  
19:00

| 

Talks with Anit. Goes with Katja to get gear. Flirts.

| 

Working with Thomas on harbor plans. Both are tired and decide on a break.

| 

?

| 

?

| 

Working with Morgan on harbor plans. Both are tired and decide on a break. Goes to get some sleep.

| 

Healing.

| 

With Glain or Anit?

| 

High Garda stuff.  
  
20:00

| 

Sleep?

| 

Gets magic ring from Eskander. Puts it on, gets power fixed, goes to eat.

| 

Sleep?

| 

?

| 

Sleep.

| 

Healing.

| 

With Glain or Anit?

| 

High Garda stuff.  
  
21:00

| 

Sleep?

| 

Passes out in Iron Tower garden and has magic ring nightmares.

| 

Sleep?

| 

?

| 

Sleep.

| 

Healing.

| 

With Glain or Anit?

| 

High Garda stuff.  
  
22:00

| 

Sleep?

| 

Sleeping.

| 

Sleep?

| 

?

| Sleep | 

Healing

| 

?  
  
23:00

| 

Sleep?

| 

Sleeping.

| 

Sleep?

| 

?

| 

Sleep.

| 

Healing.

| 

Leaves to get Morgan.

| 

High Garda stuff.  
  
Day 2

| 

.

| 

.

| 

.

| 

.

| 

.

| 

.

| 

.

| 

.  
  
0:00

| 

Sleep?

| 

Wakes up from magic ring dream. Wolfe arrives right after she gets changed to bring her to heal Glain.

| 

Sleep?

| 

?

| 

Sleep.

| 

Healing.

| 

Gets Morgan and brings her back to heal Glain.

| 

High Garda stuff.  
  
1:00

| 

Sleep?

| 

Heals Glain. Tries to drain Wolfe.

| 

Sleep?

| 

?

| 

Sleep.

| 

Healing.

| 

Almost drained by Morgan.

| 

High Garda stuff.  
  
2:00

| 

Talks to Morgan. They break up.

| 

Goes to talk to Jess. Can't heal him. They break up.

| 

Sleep?

| 

?

| 

Sleep.

| 

Healing.

| 

Staying with Glain like the dad he is, and/or coordinating Archivist search efforts with Anit.

| 

High Garda stuff.  
  
3:00

| 

Sleep?

| 

Leaves Anit's somewhere between here and 10:00

| 

Sleep?

| 

?

| 

Sleep.

| 

Healing.

| 

With Glain or Anit?

| 

High Garda stuff.  
  
4:00

| 

Sleep?

| 

?

| 

Sleep?

| 

?

| 

Sleep.

| 

Healing.

| 

With Glain or Anit?

| 

High Garda stuff.  
  
5:00

| 

Wakes up, goes to play dice with Anit's smugglers.

| 

?

| 

Wakes up, changes and cleans up.

| 

?

| 

Sleep.

| 

Healing.

| 

With Glain or Anit?

| 

High Garda stuff.  
  
6:00

| 

Checks on Wolfe and Glain. Persuades Wolfe to invite him along on the Archivist hunt.

| 

Probably not at Anit's by now. Unless she's hiding? Jess and Wolfe think she's already gone.

| 

Dawn prayers.

| 

?

| 

?

| 

Argues with Wolfe. Convinces him to let her in on the Archivist hunting.

| 

Argues with Glain and Jess. Agrees to let them go Archivist hunting. Wolfe has collected enough data on Curia and Elite sightings to know about Greek fire facility problems, informs Santi.

| 

Learns about the Greek fire facility takeover now, if not sooner. Both Wolfe and Eskander inform him.  
  
7:00

| 

Leaves Anit's somewhere between here and 11:00 to head for the Necropolis. When is Anit's team ready to go?

| 

?

| 

Meeting with Murasaki and ambassadors. War is declared.

| 

?

| 

?

| 

Leaves Anit's somewhere between here and 11:00 to head for the Necropolis. When is Anit's team ready to go?

| 

Leaves Anit's somewhere between here and 11:00 to head for the Necropolis. When is Anit's team ready to go?

| 

High Garda stuff.  
  
8:00

| 

Anit’s or tunnels.

| 

?

| 

Searching for Thomas.

| 

?

| 

?

| 

Anit’s or tunnels.

| 

Anit’s or tunnels.

| 

High Garda stuff.  
  
9:00

| 

Anit’s or tunnels.

| 

?

| 

Searching for Thomas.

| 

?

| 

?

| 

Anit’s or tunnels.

| 

Anit’s or tunnels.

| 

High Garda stuff.  
  
10:00

| 

Anit’s or tunnels.

| 

?

| 

Searching for Thomas.

| 

?

| 

?

| 

Anit’s or tunnels.

| 

Anit’s or tunnels.

| 

High Garda stuff.  
  
11:00

| 

Travel through tunnels to Necropolis.

| 

Finds Thomas and Khalila. Prepares to raise Poseidon.

| 

Finds Thomas, then Morgan. Preparations for Poseidon happen.

| 

?

| 

Finds Khalila, then Morgan. Prepares to raise Poesidon.

| 

Travel through tunnels to Necropolis.

| 

Travel through tunnels to Necropolis. Messages Khalila about Morgan while in transit or right before the battle?

| 

High Garda stuff.  
  
12:00

| 

Arrive at Necropolis. Battle happens. Jess defeats Minotaur and snipers.

| 

Raises Poseidon with Thomas.

| 

Noon prayers while Morgan and Thomas start raising Poseidon.

| 

?

| 

Raises Poseidon with Morgan.

| 

Arrive at Necropolis. Battle happens. Fighting Elites and searching for ex-Archivist.

| 

Arrive at Necropolis. Battle happens. Fighting Elites and searching for ex-Archivist.

| 

Coffee break. Watches Poseidon rise. Sets battle plans in motion and sends for Dario.  
  
13:00

| 

Necropolis.

| 

Returns to Iron Tower for more harbor defense research.

| 

?

| 

Brought in at the end of the battle. Plots attack on Greek fire facility with Santi.

| 

Back to Lighthouse to work on Ray.

| 

Necropolis.

| 

Necropolis.

| 

Oversees battle with fleet. Orders Ray of Apollo shot to stop the attack.  
  
14:00

| 

Necropolis.

| 

Goes looking for Annis. Finds her dead, fights with traitor Obscurists and High Garda. Eskander is injured.

| 

?

| 

Goes back to the Lighthouse to shower, change, eat, and write to Alvaro.

| 

Lighthouse.

| 

Necropolis.

| 

Necropolis.

| 

Meets with Dario to plan Greek fire facility attack. Meets with Murasaki. Plans meetings with new Artifex and sends message to Wolfe.  
  
15:00

| 

Necropolis.

| 

Works on finding sabotaged automata. Needs a break for food and rest somewhere in here.

| 

?

| 

Meets with Spanish spies and talks them into raiding the Greek fire facility. They go, and battle is over fast. Storm is brewing.

| 

Checks Lighthouse Ray with new Artifex and sees that it is damaged. Leaves for workshop to start working on new parts.

| 

Necropolis.

| 

Necropolis.

| 

High Garda stuff.  
  
16:00

| 

Sees Glain attacked by sphinx.

| 

Iron Tower.

| 

?

| 

Goes drinking.

| 

Kidnapped by Zara and taken to ex-Archivist's hiding place. Watches sphinx attack Glain.

| 

Attacked by sphinx.

| 

Gets report on Dario's spy mission. Santi wants Wolfe back at the Serapeum. Sees Glain attacked by sphinx.

| 

Sends message to Wolfe's group asking them to return to Serapeum.  
  
17:00

| 

Rests while Wolfe fights Minotaur.

| 

Iron Tower

| 

Dario arrives. They kiss and talk about current trauma and future marriage plans.

| 

Goes to Khalila. They kiss and talk about current trauma and future marriage plans. He falls asleep on her couch.

| 

Taken to Tomb of Heron. Travel time unclear. Sent in with a breathing mask good for two hours.

| 

Rests while Wolfe fights Minotaur.

| 

Travel back through the Necropolis. Sphinx attacks again, Wolfe lures it into a fight with the Minotaur.

| 

High Garda stuff.  
  
18:00

| 

Returns to the surface with Glain and Wolfe. Brought back to the Serapeum.

| 

Stops suicide attack on Iron Tower. Learns ex-Archivist is going to the Tomb of Heron.

| 

Meets Murasaki. Meetings are planned but second battle with fleet happens first. Storm arrives and sun finishes setting. Murasaki is assassinated.

| 

Doesn't sleep long. Joins Murasaki and Khalila in time for the battle and the assassination.

| 

Solves puzzles. Opens locks.

| 

Returns to the surface with Wolfe and Jess. Brought back to the Serapeum.

| 

Returns to the surface with Glain and Jess. Brought back to the Serapeum.

| 

Immediately informed of the assassination. Was probably dealing with the battle before that? Tries to resign.  
  
19:00

| 

Goes to Medica. Writes to father and tells him to go to hell.

| 

Translates in for the meeting. Votes Khalila for Archivist. Proposes and begins copying of Archives. Translates back out.

| 

Attends meeting. Tries to talk Wolfe into being Archivist. Gets promoted herself instead. Starts planning defenses. Authorizes copying of Archives.

| 

Gone by time meeting starts. Where???

| 

Tomb

| 

Goes to Medica.

| 

Attends Curia meeting. Appointed Archivist. Retires. Nominates Khalila. Leaves, says he's going to look for ex-Archivist and/or Thomas, but ends up at the Medica with Glain and Jess. (Reviewing information there? Or just checking on them first?)

| 

Attends meeting. Votes Khalila for Archivist.  
  
20:00

| 

At the Medica.

| 

?

| 

Meetings

| 

?

| 

Tomb

| 

Leaves for battle at the gates. The Russians attack with missiles and tanks, Santi counterattacks with the dragon, sphinxes, lions, and Greek fire. Glain stops a sphinx and sniper attacking from behind.

| 

At the Medica with Jess.

| 

Leaves for battle at the gates. The Russians attack with missiles and tanks, Santi counterattacks with the dragon, sphinxes, lions, and Greek fire.  
  
21:00

| 

Leaves right after Wolfe even though he promised not to. Catches up with Glain right after Wolfe.

| 

Translates in to help Glain's group with the lion.

| 

Can't leave the Serapeum but offers resources to help the others.

| 

Arrives to help with the lion right after Morgan takes care of it.

| 

Tomb

| 

Glain's squad is sent to track down saboteurs behind the lines. She finds the ex-Archivist's Obscurist and lion. Sends messages to the others for help.

| 

Leaves when he gets Glain's message. Catches up with Glain to help with the lion.

| 

Still at the battle.  
  
22:00

| 

Plan to trap ex-Archivist is made. Jess, Wolfe, Glain, Dario, and Morgan travel to the old Serapeum near Ptolemy House and set up their trap. They don't catch the ex-Archivist, but they do catch more Elites and learn that the Archivist is going to the Serapeum to kill Khalila.

| 

Plan to trap ex-Archivist is made. Jess, Wolfe, Glain, Dario, and Morgan travel to the old Serapeum near Ptolemy House and set up their trap. They don't catch the ex-Archivist, but they do catch more Elites and learn that the Archivist is going to the Serapeum to kill Khalila.

| 

Meetings.

| 

Plan to trap ex-Archivist is made. Jess, Wolfe, Glain, Dario, and Morgan travel to the old Serapeum near Ptolemy House and set up their trap. They don't catch the ex-Archivist, but they do catch more Elites and learn that the Archivist is going to the Serapeum to kill Khalila.

| 

Mask is used up. Thomas is still in tomb and dealing with poison gas. Finds antidote, gathers books and heads out.

| 

Plan to trap ex-Archivist is made. Jess, Wolfe, Glain, Dario, and Morgan travel to the old Serapeum near Ptolemy House and set up their trap. They don't catch the ex-Archivist, but they do catch more Elites and learn that the Archivist is going to the Serapeum to kill Khalila. Sends her squad to warn Santi.

| 

Plan to trap ex-Archivist is made. Jess, Wolfe, Glain, Dario, and Morgan travel to the old Serapeum near Ptolemy House and set up their trap. They don't catch the ex-Archivist, but they do catch more Elites and learn that the Archivist is going to the Serapeum to kill Khalila. Sends some Codex messages to Dario and (probably) Santi.

| 

Still at the battle.  
  
23:00

| 

Translates to ex-Archivist's office. Has to stay behind while the others go looking for Khalila. Follows blood trail to ex-Archivist, who was shot by Zara, and watches him die, learns he has the Archives set to burn.

| 

Translates to ex-Archivist's office. Goes to find Khalila and meets her right after the sphinx attack.

| 

In a meeting. Interrupted by Dario and a sphinx attack.

| 

Takes a carriage and then runs to Khalila. Beats everyone else there. Gets yelled at and then saves her from a sphinx.

| 

Leaves tomb and finds Zara dying, learns ex-Archivist is on the way to burn Archives. Sends messages to warn everyone and heads for the Archives.

| 

Translates to ex-Archivist's office. Goes to find Khalila and meets her right after the sphinx attack.

| 

Translates to ex-Archivist's office. Goes to find Khalila and meets her right after the sphinx attack.

| 

Battle is wrapping up. He is aware of the threat to Khalila and heading for the Serapeum.  
  
0:00

| 

Finds Santi, then Khalila's group. They discuss Nobel's Archive burning system and Translate in to disarm it. He and thomas successfully turn off their side of the system. Thomas passes him the antidote to the poison, but he passes out before drinking. Wakes up to see Morgan die saving the Archives. Passes out again.

| 

Meets up with Santi and Jess. They discuss Nobel's device, she tries and fails to hack the system so Khalila can shut it off, then she Translates everyone into the Archives. Goes with Glain to shut down one sude of the system, messes it up, sets one wing on fire. Kills herself to put the fire out. Keeps the others back with a barrier until she and the fire are dead.

| 

Meets up with Santi and Jess. Learns that she cannot shut off Nobel's device because she isn't officially elected and even Morgan isn't that good of a hacker. Translates into the Archives and goes with Santi and shuts off one part of the device. Helps rescue Jess. Supports Morgan's decision to kill herself to save the Archives.

| 

Meets up with Santi and Jess. They all discuss Nobel's device, then Translate to the Archives. Goes with Wolfe and shuts down one part of the device. Helps rescue Jess, sees Morgan die.

| 

Arrives at the Archives. Soldiers won't let him in, but Morgan Translates him in. Goes with Jess to shut off part of the device. Gives him the antidote, then runs to warn the others about the trick switch. Has to go back to get the antidote again after Jess drops it. Sees Morgan die.

| 

Meets up with Santi and Jess. They all discuss Nobel's device, then Translate to the Archives. Goes with Morgan and fails to shut down their part of the device. Blames herself, but Morgan says it wasn't her fault. Sees Morgan die.

| 

Meets up with Santi and Jess. They all discuss Nobel's device, then Translate to the Archives. Goes with Dario and shuts down one part of the device. Tries to rescue Morgan, but can't get past her barrier.

| 

Meets up with Khalila's group They all discuss Nobel's device, then Translate to the Archives. Goes with Khalila and shuts down one part of the device. Tries to rescue Morgan, but can't get past her barrier.  
  
  * Unknown time gap after Morgan saves the Archives. (Days)
  * Jess wakes up to Thomas feeding him more antidote. Thomas has been brewing more based on the sample from the tomb. Anit is there with them. 
  * Khalila comes to see Jess. She says he’s expected to need a few weeks to fully recover. They talk about Morgan and Brendan. Khalila declares Jess her brother. She also tells Jess that Thomas has created a new Curia position to be in charge of printing and offered him a job. The Burners and foreign armies are ready to negotiate new treaties.
  * Jess wakes before dawn for food and a bath. He is up and walking when his parents arrive. They discuss burial plans for Brendan. Callum tries to force Jess to sign the release form. Celia, Jess, and Wolfe all tell Callum to leave. Jess declares himself Wolfe’s son.
  * Unspecified time gap. Jess goes to see Brendan’s body. The rest of the pack joins him. There are hugs and declarations of affection. Khalila has been officially confirmed as Archivist. Thomas has given Jess the job of Chief Printer in the new Liberius department. Santi tells Jess he’s free from his High Garda contract and calls Jess his son.
  * Anit meets Jess when he’s on his way out. Katja is with her. They negotiate ownership of a bookshop.
  * Jess signs the release form to let his parents have Brendan’s body.
  * Unspecified time gap. Wolfe visits Eskander in the Iron Tower because he feels Morgan’s presence. He puts on the ring and talks to Morgan. He refuses to ask about his future and turns down her offer to unlock his latent Obscurist talent, and learns she is watching over the Library.
  * Wolfe gives the ring back to Eskander, and Eskander invites him in for tea and scheming. Wolfe agrees.

Total time for _Sword and Pen_: Two days of action, plus who knows how many days on the end.

Total series time: Somewhere around August 2031-November 2032. All months and seasons are guesstimates based on weather descriptions. A little over a year.

Character ages:

  * Jess is 16 at the beginning and 18 in _Smoke and Iron._ Let’s say he has a late September/early October birthday.
  * Morgan is 16 in _Ink and Bone_, between 17 and 18 in _Smoke and Iron_ depending on when her birthday is.
  * Wolfe, again, depending on exact birth date, is around 38-39 in _Ink and Bone, _40 in _Smoke and Iron._
  * If the estimate of his age in “Stormcrow” is accurate, and depending on exact birth date, Santi is 38-40 in _Ink and Bone_, 40-41 in _Smoke and Iron._
  * No other characters’ ages are specifically stated.


	2. Smoke and Iron - Detailed

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here is my attempt at putting Smoke and Iron into something resembling order. 
> 
> Note, there's not actually a lot of certainty here. The first 'week', with Morgan, Jess and Wolfe, is fairly fixed, and the last two days of the book are also pretty certain.
> 
> Everything else? Tch. Mess around with it at your leisure. This is just my interpretation. Specifically:
> 
> Khalila et al's entire 'ship' subplot takes places over 3/4 days, and those days could in theory fit almost anywhere in the timeline as long as they have time to Translate to Alexandria and get to the Spanish embassy.
> 
> Wolfe has 3 scenes. The first is tied firmly to the start of the book, the third must be the night before he meets up with Jess and is rescued. The second is a floating nightmare and could be almost anywhere in the timeline between those two points.
> 
> Morgan mentions 'weeks', which is dodgy: we start with 19 days remaining, we follow her for five, and then there's this gap before we see her again. The best interpretation I can come up with is that it was NEARLY two weeks, so I tried to put her freeing Eskander etc as close to the end of the timeline as possible. 
> 
> Enough rambling. Timeline!

**Smoke and Iron**

19 days remaining until the Feast of Greater Burning - _as per information from Ash and Quill_

* * *

**19 days remaining**: Morgan, Jess and Wolfe put in their respective jails. (the starts of Chapters 1, 7 and 9.)

**18 days remaining**: Wolfe maaaaybe has his second day in prison. He's a bit unreliable. (Chapter 7)

**17 days remaining**:

**16 days remaining**: At some point in these “four days” that she's imprisoned alone for, Morgan messages Jess. We don’t see this message.

**15 days remaining**: Morgan is taken to see Gregory (still chapter 9) and Jess is taken to see the Archivist, (chapter 1) then taken to his new house (Chapter 2) Interesting that these happen on the same day, five days after they arrived/were imprisoned.

**14 days remaining**: Morgan wakes up and meets with Annis (chapter 10), send second message to Jess (Chapter 11). Alvaro visits Jess, Jess receives Morgan’s second message, which we see on-page. (Chapter 2) 

**13 days remaining:** Jess’ “few long days”, Morgan “weeks” both start here.

**12 days remaining: **choosing to start Chapter 3 here, re Ros’ hypothesised “week after A&Q” start. Khalila meets with Dario and Santi (chapter 4), plans.

**11 days remaining:** Chapter 5, Anit helps them, Glain drugged that night. This could be the same day as above, or not. I’m going with the next day for now.

**10 days remaining: **Chapter 6, morning after, seize control of ship. Could land in Cadiz same day as this, could be next day.

**9 days remaining:** Khalila etc in Cadiz, captain to report all prisoners killed during rebellion and thrown overboard. Khalila et al meet Ramon, go to Cadiz, meet Murasaki, Khalila arranges Translation from Cadiz. (Chapter 16, 17, 18, 19)

**8 days remaining:** I’m putting Jess back in here for no actual reason: Chapters 12, 13, 14. Jess is taken in for questioning, afterwards raids smuggler’s house.

**7 days remaining: **Chapter 15, Jess saves Archivist.

**6 days remaining: **Artifex visits Wolfe in prison, demands he kills himself within the next 3 days. Chapter 8.

**5 days remaining:**

**4 days remaining:**

**3 days remaining:** Annis demonstrates her Mesmerism to stop Morgan from being drugged, Morgan and Annis do the crystal thing, meet Eskander, he removes their collars. Chapters 22, 23, 24.

**2 days remaining: **Chapter 20. Wolfe hallucinates Qualls. Chapter 32, Eskander fixes Morgan’s corruption, refuses to help fight, says he will block Translation. 

(Note, nothing is stopping chapter 32 from being on the same day as Morgan’s preceding escapades – indeed nothing is stopping ALL of the Morgan chapters from 22 being tomorrow, in the “one day to go” bit, adjust however you want)

**1 day remaining:** Chapter 21, Wolfe taken from his cell in lieu of Khalila’s father. Brought to the Archivist’s office, along with Jess and Brendan (25, 26) Escape and rejoin others at embassy (Chapter 27), then Brendan and Jess run and meet up with Anit, who kills her father for trying to kill Jess (Chapter 27, 28).

Khalila, Dario, and Glain go to the Lighthouse with letters from Wolfe to recruit Scholars. Dario is captured, they return without him, meanwhile Santi and Wolfe discuss things. Translation is blocked/malfunctioning by this point so chapter 32 must have already happened. (Chapters 29, 30, 31.)

**Zero days remaining**: Gregory drugs Morgan (Chapter 33). Chapter 34 may fit here in the early hours, with Anit agreeing to help them fight. Chapters 35 – 41 end. Thomas finishes the Rays. They kill the dragon automaton, Zara deserts. Arena battle.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to Rosalind for giving my rambles official status by making me co-author.


End file.
